Every month the Great Arizona Puppet Theater holds an Adult Puppet Slam, where local puppeteers can release their full creative potential without the usual constraints of performing for children and parents.
“The Adult Slam is a creative outlet where you can really express your art,” said Gwen Bonar, the assistant artistic director of the theater.
The Great Arizona Puppet Theater, situated just east of the Japanese Friendship Garden in a historical Latter-day Saints church, which was saved from being torn down in the 1970s. The puppet theater purchased the building in 1999 and presents its shows and adult slams there, CEO Nancy Smith said.
While children’s shows are the troupe’s forte, every month the theater gets an opportunity to present a play designed for adults ages 18 and up. The latest performances were held on the evenings of Feb. 7 and 8 and featured many of the same puppeteers who perform five days a week for children.
“There are different puppeteers that do short pieces that are often funny; sometimes they’re not,” Smith said, “But it’s all noncompetitive.”
“We were really busy this last Saturday night,” she said, noting that tickets were sold out.
This event is not unique to Phoenix, however. Other cities like Boston, New York and Atlanta hold puppet slams for adults as well.
The Puppet Slam Network is an organization that connects the growing ranks of independent puppet performers across the United States and organizes local puppet slams. The performances “foster cooperation” among puppeteers across the nation, Smith said.
“We were one of the first in the country,” Bonar said..
Even Phoenix Comicon, held every summer, has its own Puppet Slam as one of its events.
“I don’t think you can be a puppeteer without being a geek,” said Stacy Gordon, one of the puppeteers at February’s Adult Slam.
At the National Puppet Slam, held in Atlanta every year, top performers gather to present their acts. The Puppet Slam Network also gives out grants from IBEX Puppetry, a production company formed by Heather Henson, the daughter of The Muppets creator, Jim Henson.
Bonar is one of the award-winning performers at the national event. Her parents founded the Great Arizona Puppet Theater in 1983, and she has been an active member since its start.
“It’s art and that’s what I do,” she said, referring to her long-time experience. “When painters get upset, they paint; when dancers get upset, they dance; when I’m upset, I perform puppets shows.”
“I don’t think I would be a puppeteer today if it weren’t for them,” said Gordon, who performs in her production company, Die Puppet Die and who was a part-time puppeteer at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater. She has performed with puppets since she was a child and mainly works as a puppet builder for different shows.
“It was only a matter of following the hobbies my family already had,” she said.
The next Adult Puppet Slam will take place on March 7 and 8 and will feature members of Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre Company from Iowa.
“We’re always open to have more performers on board,” Bonar said.
Contact the reporter at jestable@asu.edu
